Our First WhyNut Blog

This is me (Cigdem) on the left and Navita on the right.
We were at the Ice Cream Expo in Harrogate in November 2011

                                

This is our first blog entry so I will briefly explain who we are, what we do and the reason for our blog.

I am Cigdem, (pronounced 'Cheedam') the proud founder of WhyNut. Originally from Turkey, hence the unusual name – although quite usual when it translates into English, Crocus!

Then there is Navita, my colleague whom I infected with a love of pistachios and convinced to join me. I am sure she will tell her story in her blog entry. So this will be a double act, we will be sharing the writing of WhyNut blog. Whoever has a story to tell, she will be the lucky one!
We provide fine food lovers and producers with great tasting pistachios and pistachio products - we are venturing into hazelnuts next, but more on that later !

'WhyNut' was literally born from a conversation between my husband and I when we were discussing why there were no Antep pistachios in England, so much cherished by us that we brought back some with us every time we travelled to Turkey. I was especially disappointed that we couldn’t find the very affordable bars of pistachio chocolate that you can conveniently find in bakkal’s (small convenience stores) in Turkey.

 

A typical Turkish Bakkal 
- Becoming endangered because of competition from supermarkets

One might say this is all about geography! Turkey is the 3^rd largest grower of pistachios in the world and hence its prolific use in the country’s cuisine. However, I was determined such a small glitch was not going to hinder me.

I bought some 'Hotel Chocolat' dark batons, and got on doing my own pistachio chocolates to be sent to Mr Angus Thirwell himself (CEO and Co-founder of Hotel Chocolat). Not knowing anything remotely about tempering of chocolate, I melted it away happily in the microwave! To cut the story short, I was very encouraged by how well the pistachios were received and  started a frenzy of writing letters and sending samples to artisan chocolatiers...

Along the way, we started offering pure green 'pistachio paste' which made the best pistachio ice cream and is also used by patissiers – I am proud to say William Curley uses our peeled green kernels to make his own paste as well his Matcha & Pistachio Truffles !

Matcha & Pistachio Truffle 
(from 'Couture' Chocolate by William Curley)

We are a young company and we love what we do. We will be sharing our experiences, our artisan customers’ stories, offering tips, recipes, industry information to nut lovers, food enthusiasts, artisan producers and anyone who will listen to us. We would also welcome feedback and input. We will have competitions to get you tuck in our new products! 

Watch this space if you love your nuts!!!